Good Morning!  I really I am trying to remember to post her on my actual blog & not just facebook!

I have been up watering my garden in preparation for the end of the week heat wave.  We are suppose to hit mid 90's today & 100's going into the weekend.

I am the only person in my neighborhood watering & it shows.  My house looks like a an oasis in a sea of brown lawns & crisp gardens.   

Well Pardon this gardener for being such a blog slacker!  I really do keep forgetting I have a blog.  All the new media makes it hard to keep up.  First it was Facebook, then google +, then Pinterest & tumblr.   I can't keep up with it all.  I am going to ry to remember to post my blogs more frequently.  Try is the operative word in that sentence.

This year's VERY early Spring has the garden completely out of whack.  My mid Summer perennials are all blooming now or budding up & it's only June 25th.  My coneflowers, bee balm, globe thistle, verbena bonariensis( from seed) are all in bloom.  Normally they don't even bud up until the 4th of July!

We are also experiencing some drought.  Here in Chicago we were dry going into the Fall & then we had little to no snow over the Winter.  Spring started early in March & hot hitting temperatures in the upper 80's.  We have had very little rain yet.  Spring was dry & Summer is starting out dry.
 I of course water on my days to water, but we really need some rain.  The neighborhood is slowly turning brown one lawn & crisped garden at a time...and it's not even July.    Here's a picture of my back border.  I have added a phone booth to the bed.  This phone booth use to be in my parent's basement growing up, now it's in my garden.

I forgot I even had a blog

Ya know, I damn near forgot I had a blog.  I have retired from active garden duty and have been enjoying being a retired gardener & stay at home Mom.   I have been enjoying focusing on my own garden for the first time.  I put a lovely red phone booth in my  back perennial border last Summer just for fun.  I also let my daughter plant pumpkins in the back border last year.  Holy pumpkin attack.  The pumpkins were very happy in the back border.  The spread across 50 feet of the back garden went over the fence into all of my neighbor's gardens.  I am lucky my neighbor's enjoyed the bright orange blossoms because they were outta control!  I will look for some pictures of the pumpkins & phone booth to share.  Now that I am retired maybe I will remember to blog more!

Gardening & Garden Blogging

Well pardon this Gardener for falling off the radar!  It has been a very busy Summer and it looks like it is going to be an early Fall.

This Summer was one for the record books.  Seemingly endless rain during Spring and the early part of Summer had every insect & plant disease I have ever seen and a few new ones too, out in gardens in force!  Then it got hot as hell and because we had so much rain early,a lot of people didn't water enough during the heat and as a result,at least in my area, is that a lot of the trees are going straight to brown and crunchy with no Fall color.   Needless to say these conditions made for a very busy Summer for yours truly.  When I get that busy something has to give and in this case it was my blogging.  Edie-my daughter-is just more important than giving garden advice and blogging.  I will try to keep up with the blog as we enter the Fall. 

Now is the time to divide and move your perennials to make room for more Spring bulbs in your garden.  That's right, it's time for bulbs!!!!!!!!!  Get out your catalogs!

Good Luck & Happy Gardening!!!!

Rock & Roll

Well Pardon this Gardener I have been slacking on my Blog posts!!!  I have started posting perennials with Rock & Roll song titles as their cultivar names on My Gardener's Facebook page and I have neglected to do so here...ooops!  So let me catch ya up.  The first picture at left is of Polemonium reptans 'Stairway to Heaven'  plant it in morning sun or shade and get ready to get the Led out!

The next picture is of  Hosta x. 'Dark Star'.  Deadheads will go with the Grateful Dead's song by that name.  CSN fans will go with CSN's version I am sure.

The third picture is of Geranium pratense 'Midnight Reiter' an Allman Brother's favorite.

Check at your local garden center for availability.  Good Luck and Happy Gardening!

lush!

Holy lushness Batman! And no I am not referring to my 4th of July weekend drinking.....

A warm April followed by two months of  rain have gardens all over Chicago looking like we live in Seatle!  Perennials are well ahead of their normal bloom times here.  Bee Balm( Monarda didyma spp.) is already bloomed out!  Bee Balm doesn't typically start blooming here UNTIL the4th of July!  I also have some hardy mums that are getting ready to bloom.  I did not stutter, you read that correctly...I have mums getting ready to bloom in my garden in July!!!!

A growing season like this is a true rarity here in Chicago, so enjoy it!  Sharpen up your pruners and keep cutting back your perennials after they bloom and before they set seed and you will enjoy another round of flowers this Summer courtesy of Mother Nature. 

Remember to keep an eye on your containers and your bedding plants in this heat!  Things dry out faster than most people realize when it's this hot.  Keep an eye out for Powdery Mildew & Leaf Mold as well as the Japanese Beetles that have recently emerged in force!  Here's a page from my playbook.  Buy a pump sprayer at your local hardware store and put in a mix of Ortho systemic insect killer and Ortho Rose Pride.  It will help protect your plants from both the insect infestations and the powdery mildew and black spot!!!!!

Good Luck & Happy Gardening!

I'm baaaack!

Good Morning!  I took a small hiatus from blogging.  As you can see from the picture I posted, I almost pruned my finger right off!  I took seven stitches!!!  Thankfully I didn't get my fingernail!

And thankfully,the rain seems to be behind us.  Here in Chicago it was the wettest June in 113 years!!!  Damn Skippy it was!  Now that the rain has stopped, it is a good time to get into your garden and cut back hard on your perennials that have grown to bionic proportions with all the rain.  Cut them back to the ground and let them flush back out. You will get what amounts to a second season out of your perennials.  My Celadine Poppies( Sylophorum diphyllum) have bloomed twice already!  My Spiderwort( Traadescantai spp.) are ready to do the same.

Remember my friends, that despite a months worth of record setting rain, you need to monitor your garden for when to water. People with more sun and Southern & Western exposures will need to water this weekend when it heats up.  I have been in more than a few gardens this week that are already bone dry believe it or not!  Shade gardens will be slower to dry out in general, UNLESS there are large trees.  The trees take a lot of the water and you may find your shade garden to be drier than it should be.  So keep your eyes open for watering needs. 

Good Luck & Happy Gardening!!!!!